Necessity of an overarching plot?

Hello, i played some of the games from CoG and i always found the concept very interesting, eventually i was thinking of trying to make one story myself. I have never written any sort of story before, but i have some ideas to try something out.

Anyway, i had this story in mind involving some sort of mercenary or hired killer that can have missions in different locations all over the world. However, i am struggling in creating some sort of overarching plot connecting at least some of these together since when you are hired to do something, you are expected to finish things there, and move on to your next assignment.

I was planning that each job you are hired for would be like a small story that would be finished on itself, making the story be more like several unrelated stories joined together.

Due to different factions, characters and locations in these, i would like to ask if in this type of story such a story arc would be necessary? Would the game feel too simple and unconnected without one?

3 Likes

you can always make it only about the MC that why is he doing the killings, making it all a thriller that how every mission while being different than each other was ultimately related to us and how we are going to end this all

if the player feels satisfied with the end - you can do whatever you want.

You can even start with rainbow colored dragons saving princesses.

1 Like

An overarching plot can help tie it all together. It can even be simple but still functional.

For example lets take your Merc/Assassin.

The protagonist has a dear person [partner,spouse,kid etc] who is very ill, there is a treatment but it is expensive and the protagonist hasn’t got the money but they do have a particular set of skills that make them useful to a shadowy organisation (from here on SO), so they are approached by an agent of SO and they makes the protagonist an offer, they will constantly pay for the treatment as long as you do missions on behalf of SO.

This of course is just an example which allows you to have contained missions but still has a bigger plot tying them together.

10 Likes

What @Nocturnal_Stillness said is a great example for tying it together. In general terms, make the overall story about the main character. Between missions have a chapter of downtime, where we learn more about their life and, particularly, a few of the ‘normal’ people in their life. You’ll soon find that you are creating an overall story through those characters.

1 Like

Andy makes a great point and one that again is easily intergrated with my idea above.

For example; chapter one is the players first mission. Which reveals their reason for working for the SO at the end. chapter two can then revolve around the dear person letting players learn about them whats wrong and understand why the protagonist is doing this. chapter 3 next mission, chapter 4 reveals more about their life outside their missions chapter 5 next mission and so on and so forth.

1 Like

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was already planning something like that, mission and then some downtime with other things going on, to give time to interact with other companions and characters as well.

The idea for the ill person was one i already thought of, but for a companion of the MC. I think it would be better to let the player select from a few reasons why they are pursuing this career, as well as their background.

The suggestion for a SO gives me some ideas, i was originally thinking of a single “contact” that you would have to make missions for you but something like a SO or private company opens up some more options for a more overarching plot without depending on player selection at the start. Thanks for the suggestions!

4 Likes